It is August of 1893 and Arthur Conan Doyle is sick to death of his creation. His make-believe detective has brought him fame and fortune, but his fans are confusing fact with fiction. Everyday Doyle receives letters addressed to Sherlock Holmes, asking him to solve all sorts of mysteries. Even Doyle's mother refers to herself as the mother of Sherlock Holmes! This fictional character has literally taken on a life of his own. But when the people of London turn to the latest installment of Sherlock in December of 1893 only to find Doyle's killed him off, shock, disbelief and anger all follow. The people are not happy with Arthur Conan Doyle, but their reactions only serve to justify his actions. His readers really need to get a life.
Meanwhile, it is January 2010 and Harold White has just been inducted into the Baker Street Irregulars, THE preeminent society for all things Holmes. This is the happiest moment of his life, until one of the Irregulars is found dead in his hotel room, apparently strangled by his own shoelace. And Arthur Conan Doyle's mysterious missing diary has again gone missing. There is a mystery to be solved, and Harold is just the man for the job.
Graham Moore does an excellent job blending fact with fiction in this very entertaining mystery. The reader travels back and forth between 1893 and 2010, falling deeper into the enigma that was both Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes, remembering once again that you can never really know anyone, no matter how strong your powers of deduction. You really must read the Sherlockian! It is...yes, I'm going to say it...ELEMENTARY!
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